HP wants iPhone touch

NEW DELHI: Seems Apple iPhone has made touchscreen the tech flavour of the year, after a flurry of cell phone manufacturers scrambling to launch touchscreen mobile phones, now you may soon have a touchscreen laptop. According to reports, the #1 PC maker Hewlett Packard is working on several products, including notebooks that will use the finger-tapping interface popularised by iPhone. The company plans to bring the touchscreen laptop to the market in the next 18 months. The company's present touchscreen product portfolio includes Pavilion tx2500z tablet laptop and the recently-launched TouschSmart All-in-one PC. HP sees touch technology as one of the most preferred method for tapping in non-technical users. With Microsoft's next operating system, Windows 7 also expected to have touchscreen features, PC makers are gearing up to offer touch-enabled systems. Last month, Dell showed of its touchscreen products including LCD monitors and 12.1 inch Latitude XT tablet. According to market analysts, the Touchscreen device market is set to be double to 800 million by 2013.